


If this is where I leave you

by Taeyn



Series: I have loved the stars too fondly [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alliances, Canon Universe, Emotions, Hypothermia, Injury, Lance and Lotor have to team up, M/M, Shock, Trust, and work together, to save each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-10 15:29:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12302067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taeyn/pseuds/Taeyn
Summary: “No, no no no,” babbles Lance, Lotor grits his teeth in an effort to stop coughing. “You need to get over here and co-pilot, your ship isn't responding to me!”“Because you’re not commanding it to!” Lotor snarls, and he wrenches himself upright, his eyes dark and wild, hair plastered to his face with sweat. His mouth hitches, snares uneven as he sucks another heavy breath. “You-”What pallor he has seems to drain from his features, Lotor clenches a fist, doubles over his wound.“-can-” he manages.





	If this is where I leave you

**Author's Note:**

> One of my favourite things/tropes/themes is when opposing sides end up working together to rescue each other... and then come to a sort of truce or understanding along the way ;w;
> 
> content warning for some semi-graphic descriptions of blood/injury/trauma

“ _Go,_ ” hisses Lotor, there’s a venom to the word that sounds like pain, his upper lip curling as he lets out a gasp, hand clawed into the deck. “Fly. _Now_.”

Lance is shaking, his throat cold and tangled, sticky as he tries to speak. He’s come close before, but it was the kind of close he could shake, blurred and bright and too fast to hold on. Now his ears are ringing, he can still feel the creature dragging him from the waist. His mouth stings rough and gritty from screaming into the sand, the tang of blood where he bit his tongue. And as Lance looks down, he can _see_ blood too, blue and garish, splattered over his torso. It’s the same blood that’s soaked through Lotor’s suit, shiny over Lotor’s glove as he clutches his side. Lance’s vision prickles at the corners, he’s crawling for the pilot’s chair, makes a terrible noise as he tries not to gag.

“Look up,” spits Lotor, harsh, and Lance does, distracted as he sees the roof of Lotor’s ship. It’s shimmering, some hologram fused with a data map, planets and coordinates flaring in and out of reach. Lance gazes, and for one strange, half-second he’s somewhere else, some universe where his friends are by his side, the escape no more than a nightmare and he doesn’t need to be saved.

And then he hears the sirens, more a throbbing pulse than a sound, Lotor retches in agony and there, blinking sharp in the middle of the map, Lance can finally see where they need to go.

“I’ve got it!” Lance shouts, somehow he makes it to the console. The navigation panel reminds him of Blue, and as Lance wraps his hands around the sensors, his fingers are no longer trembling. “I’m in, I’m in, how do you start this thing?”

Lotor snaps something taut and guttural, then coughs, again and again until Lance twists over his shoulder, there’s a trickle of blue at the edge of Lotor’s mouth.

“No, no no no,” babbles Lance, Lotor grits his teeth in an effort to stop coughing. “You need to get over here and co-pilot, your ship isn't responding to me!”

“Because you’re not commanding it to!” Lotor snarls, and he wrenches himself upright, his eyes dark and wild, hair plastered around his face with sweat. His mouth hitches, snares uneven as he sucks another heavy breath. “You-”

What pallor he has seems to drain from his features, Lotor clenches a fist, doubles over his wound.

“ _-can-_ ” he manages, and the alien siren starts up again, quieter than before. Lance can barely hear it, but it seems to stretch into Lotor’s very core, he shudders violently and brings up a mouthful of watery liquid. It splatters to the deck as he desperately tries to turn aside, Lotor’s eyes squeeze shut as he tips back his head, gasping.

“Don’t listen to that!” Lance shouts suddenly, and he feels something untangle in his chest, hard and fierce. “You- you listen to me, okay? You saved us- and- I’m getting us out of here-”

“-I saved _me_ ,” Lotor interrupts, eyes watering through a grimace. He drags his wrist across his jaw as if to maintain some semblance of poise, his hands drenched and dark.

“Bonus credit, then,” says Lance, and he forces himself deeper into the chair, sips one breath, and then another. “But, you know, seeing how well that worked out for you, that’s not exactly the story I’d be-”

Lance’s eyes widen, a shot of air escapes his lungs as the cabin grows dim. One by one, pinpoints of light slowly blossom on the console, a series of plasmic circles humming into focus. They spin and fracture, seem to adjust the ship's trajectory on nothing more than a thought.

“-telling everyone,” whispers Lance, and he feels the energy of the craft swell beneath him, a low whirring that prickles and claws, sensors warm to his touch.

“I’m not telling _everyone_ ,” Lotor returns, his tone reassuringly biting. “I’m telling _you_.”

“That’s the spirit!” Lance calls, his windpipe tightening with hope as he pulls back on the controls. Lance feels the ship rise and hover, a familiar weightlessness dipping through his stomach with the speed of it. He leans into the dash, the ship cutting toward the stars with more control than he expects. Lotor swallows a hollow, choking sound and Lance winces.

“Faster,” Lotor manages, and Lance can tell it costs him, his voice is hoarse and splintered. Behind them, their captors have finally rallied, their fighters unfurl in a vague, disjointed swarm, red and amber against the night.

“Can you get on the weapons?” Lance yells, and he grips firmer, steadier, jaw clenched and arms thrust out in front. The ship’s faster than anything he’s used to, but it also takes more focus, the connection searing behind his eyes. Lotor’s craft isn’t his teammate or ally, the more Lance asks the more it drains him, testing, asking back.

“ _Up!_ ” hisses Lotor, and Lance doesn’t respond so much as visualise the maneuver, the ship’s wings spin, then calibrate, a surge of enemy fire blazes wide of their position. Lance gulps a breath, nauseous and reeling, glowing symbols flicker on the viewport and he has no idea what they mean. Lotor’s crawling toward him, twitching as he fights to stay conscious, Lance knows they don’t have time.

“Fire! Fire now!” Lance screams at the ship, and it sounds more like a plea than an order, caustic and burning at his throat. Lotor makes an inhuman noise as they curve around, Lance nearly thrown from his seat as a round of laser fire issues from the cannon blasters, a dull screeching sound echoing from the fighter behind. Lance rears back as the alien ship halts, suspended, it’s hull slowly brightening from the inside. The explosion is piercing, blotted and messy, Lance flinches as if the ash were tearing into his skin. A second later and his cheeks are wet with tears, Lotor’s ship has already whipped them far, far out of the way.

 _I’ve done it before,_ Lance tells himself, it’s the first thing he can think of that might make it okay. _It’s nothing I haven’t done before. Nothing they wouldn’t have done to me._

But whether it's an aftermath of the adrenaline or all those other times finally catching up, the thought does nothing to soothe him, Lance can hear himself sobbing as he realigns their course.

“It’s alright,” Lotor says thickly, chest heaving as he shivers. His arm doesn’t lift so Lotor dips his jaw, the controls are still blinking violet near Lance’s hands. “Faster, faster- and you’re almost home.”

Lance doesn’t know if it’s meant to be comforting, or if Lotor’s even addressing him. His stare wavers, pupils sharp and diamond, Lotor splutters again as he sucks an inhale.

And then he doesn’t.

“Oh, oh _fuck_ , don’t you dare. We made it already!” says Lance, high-pitched, he’s scrambling to the ground. Lotor’s head has fallen at an odd angle, his mouth too loose as Lance cages a hand to his face. He moves his fingers in search of a pulse, closer to Lotor’s ear because that’s where Alteans… where Galra… but is he even...

Lance holds his breath, concentrates. He can feel it- no- he can feel _something-_ but the rhythm is off, and then Lance is sure he’s imagining it. If this is something a healing pod can fix, he knows he doesn’t have long.

“The castle!” Lance wails, and he slams his palm against what looks like the hyperdrive, feels an unpleasant stinging in his fingertips. The craft drifts and Lance realises his mistake, the cabin dulls to a shadow of grey. If he has no idea where the castle is then neither will Lotor’s ship, Lance can feel his connection slipping.

“- _hghm_ -” Lotor mumbles, and Lance feels him shift, his hand surprisingly strong as he grasps Lance’s.

“Yes, yes yes, that’s it, hold on,” Lance says urgently, and he tries to drag Lotor’s hand to the hyperdrive. “Stay with me, stay with me, I’m going to accelerate to warp.”

Lotor pulls away, his nostrils flicker and his brows pinch above his nose, he makes a rasp that sounds like _no_.

“There isn’t enough time,” Lance tries to explain, repeats what he _knows_ the Prince must know. “ _You_ don’t have-”

Lotor trembles as he slits open an eye, teeth sharp and stained with blood.

“-not the hyperdrive-” he croaks. Lance shakes his head, Lotor must be going into shock, his skin is freezing to touch.

“There isn’t another option,” Lance whispers, desperate, Lotor’s expression ever more venomous as he hears it. “Would it kill you to let me save you too?”

Lance closes his eyes before Lotor can answer, channels everything he has back into the ship. Another second and Lance almost snaps away in reflex, a coil of heat bites into his skin.

 _Come on,_ Lance wills, and his grip tightens, it isn’t a question, and he isn’t letting go.

 _Get us out of here,_ Lance pushes, feels the energy charging around him, something ignited deep below the ship’s hull. Before Lance can understand it, Lotor seizes him by the wrist, lunges and sends Lance sprawling across the cabin. The effort comes with a hiss of pain, then another, Lotor sinks his brow against the floor, eyes crumpled and lips parted, a tear spills down the line of his nose.

“It was working!” Lance cries, he’s lost too much for the chance to be spent. “I was-”

“-that’s not the hyperdrive,” Lotor coughs again, and Lance feels a low, sinking dread beneath his ribcage. “-that’s the radar.”

Lance looks up, Lotor falling silent as the sky wavers above them. The edges appear first, sharp angles cutting through the black. Then the lights, a dark purple energy signature that fizzes at Lance’s spine, blots over the haze of stars until it’s all Lance can see.The flagship is Galra and Lotor’s tone, for all its harshness, uneasily close to regret.

“Go,” says Lotor, and he drags what’s left of his helmet toward his shoulders, the word fogs in his visor as he leans into the release hatch. They’ll find him, that much Lance is sure.

The rest...

“Fly,” Lotor whispers again, his voice dry, faltering. “Now.”

-

**Author's Note:**

> tysm for reading! :'> comments & kudos are always adored and appreciated, or say hello/make friends/yell at me about Lotor [@sillyshiro on tumblr~!](http://sillyshiro.tumblr.com/) <3


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